


Watch Your Tongue

by HeavenlyDusk



Series: High School Montage [3]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Future Fic, M/M, POV Outsider, Pre-Relationship, former bully meets homicidal boyfriends & hitman dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 11:17:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17527721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavenlyDusk/pseuds/HeavenlyDusk
Summary: For someone who moved away from Namimori in his second year of middle school, Eita best watch what he says about "Dame-Tsuna."





	Watch Your Tongue

**Author's Note:**

> "Why haven't you written more divinity?" Good question.
> 
> So I wrote this within a few hours which means it's probably like, half mindless rambling. Also I have no experience with bullying and also I didn't wanna be mean to Tsuna for too long so >.<
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The first thing Eita does when he sees an old middle school friend across the hall is surprise him with a rough pat on his back and a loud, “Yo, Toshimura!” Toshimura jumps and flails before whirling around to look at him. His glare transforms into wide-eyed surprise when he sees who just greeted him, and Eita grins.

“Maeda! I didn’t know you would be at this school!” he exclaims. “It’s been a while since school started—I’m surprised we’re only bumping into each other now.”

“Yeah, me too. What’s up, man? Decided not to go to Namimori High?” Eita asks. Toshimura had always been a small town kind of guy, so he assumed he would have stayed in Namimori rather than go anywhere else.

Oddly, a dejected look crosses Toshimura’s face. If life were an anime, Eita can easily imagine black lines over his forehead and a cloud hanging over his head. “I thought if I went here, I could manage to get away from _that_ group,” he answered. “No such luck—of _course_ they would end up deciding not to go to Namimori High. How did they even _get_ Hibari-san to agree to come to this school?”

Eita raises an eyebrow. “’ _That_ group’? Wait, Hibari-san is _here_?” His mouth drops open, a wave of fear passing through him. “I thought he would stay at Namichuu forever!” Oh god, how did he not hear about this? He mentally re-evaluates every plan he’s had for high school and makes a firm decision not to break any rules. He’s had a few beatings from Hibari before; he’s not interested in any repeats.

“Yeah, so did I and the rest of Namichuu, but then he became a part of Sawada’s group and…” Toshimura trails off. He blinks a few times, then looks at Eita with wide eyes. “Oh man, you moved before all that Sawada stuff happened. Oh _shit_.”

“Sa—you mean Dame-Tsuna?”

“ _Shhh_!” A hand claps over Eita’s mouth and Toshimura’s eyes dart side to side frantically, as though waiting for someone to attack. After a few tense moments, he sighs and drops his hand. “Shit, sorry dude. I totally forgot you didn’t know. Listen, _no one_ calls Sawada by that name anymore. I’m afraid to even hear anyone say that. Like, Sawada doesn’t care, but his friends? _Oh boy_. His friends are _terrifying_ , so just… don’t get on their bad side by using that nickname, okay? I know you're not exactly his biggest fan, but _don't touch him_ unless you're willing to deal with them.”

“That loser has friends?”

“Don’t call him a loser,” Toshimura says frantically. “Don’t insult him at all. I told you—his friends are _terrifying_ , and one of them is _Hibari-san_ , and all of them go to this school, so _tread carefully_.” Eita looks at him skeptically, but Toshimura looks absolutely certain. He decides not to tell him that his fears are unfounded.

Honestly, it’s just _Dame-Tsuna_. Once a loser, always a loser.

* * *

When Eita catches sight of Dame-Tsuna a few weeks later, he’s surprised to see him talking to a delinquent and _not_ getting beaten up. In fact, the delinquent is grinning and gesturing wildly while Dame-Tsuna does nothing but laugh, completely at ease in the presence of someone who should be making him run off screaming. Eita is thrown even more off-balance when Yamamoto Takeshi appears from nowhere and throws an arm around the delinquent with an easy grin at the both of them.

It’s one thing that Yamamoto made friends with a delinquent—he really wouldn’t put it past him—but _Dame-Tsuna_? The two are on completely opposite sides of the social hierarchy! It shouldn't be possible, and yet, there he is, reaching over to tug Dame-Tsuna into a hug with the delinquent that has both parties flushing red. The delinquent shoves his elbow into Yamamoto’s gut, but of course Yamamoto only laughs as he backs off.

“What the fuck?” Eita says to no one. A boy standing near him gives him a weird look. He makes a face back.

* * *

He plans on finding Yamamoto to ask about his relationship with Dame-Tsuna, but he doesn’t see him when he goes to the baseball field after school. He ends up waiting for break to be called to head over to a few familiar faces from Namimori.

“Yo, Katou, Ryuu!” he calls, holding up a hand in greeting.

“Whoa, is that you Maeda? It’s been forever!” Katou exclaims. Ryuu doesn’t bother to greet him as he’s taking a sip of water. Ryuu has never really liked him anyway, so he didn't expect a greeting to begin with.

“Yeah, it has been. Still playing baseball I see,” Eita says.

“And I see you’re not!”

“You know it wasn’t really my passion. So listen,” he says, getting straight to the point, “I wanted to ask Yamamoto something. Do you know where he is? I thought I would find him here, but…”

Katou makes a face. “Man, Yamamoto doesn’t attend practice half the time. Still wins our games though, which is the only reason he hasn’t been kicked off the team.”

“Yamamoto? The baseball nut?” Eita says incredulously. The Yamamoto he knew attended every practice religiously and then some.

“He doesn’t care much about baseball anymore,” Ryuu explains, shrugging nonchalantly. “His friends are more important, I guess. Especially Sawada and Gokudera. His relationship with those two is so _weird_ , but I don’t wanna ask. He’ll probably kill me, like he almost did a little while ago. I’m pretty sure he’s just waiting for me to make a wrong move thanks to _someone_.” He shoots an accusing glare at Katou, who looks sheepish. Then he sighs. “Well, he’s probably still in the school. At this time, I’d say he’s…” He purses his lips in thought and tilts his head back. “Maybe in his classroom? Or in the Committee Office with Hibari. Or if you find Sawada or Gokudera, you can probably find him anywhere in the immediate vicinity.”

“Those three are attached at the hip,” Katou says. “Did you hear the rumor that Gokudera and Yamamoto threatened the principal into putting them in the same class as Sawada?”

“I heard Hibari just switched the class arrangements around for them without even going to the principal,” Ryuu says.

“Who the hell is Gokudera?” Eita asks.

“Silver-haired delinquent,” Katou answers. “Can’t miss him. He follows Sawada around like a puppy.”

Oh, that guy. He guesses that makes sense, if the hug he saw Yamamoto pull him into was anything to consider.

“What’d you wanna ask Yamamoto anyway?” Ryuu takes another sip of his water.

“I wanted to ask what his relationship with Dame-Tsuna is,” Eita says.

Ryuu chokes, water dripping from his lips as he tries to catch his breath and swallow it down. Katou thumps his back, not looking all that much better. Eita takes a step back in alarm. Once Ryuu has recovered, the two of them stare at him in horror. Ryuu doesn’t even say anything—just puts his water bottle down, throws his hands in the air, and stomps towards an upperclassman. Katou shakes his head and turns to Eita, gripping his shoulders tightly.

“Okay, I know you moved away before all the weird shit happened, but never. _Ever_. Call Sawada that, and especially _never_ when his friends are around. I almost _died_ a little while ago when I called him that, and the only reason I got away with it is because I apologized immediately. I know you think Yamamoto’s an easy-going guy ‘cause you haven’t seen him in a few years, but I promise you, he gets _awful_ if you insult his friends.” Katou looks a lot like Toshimura did those weeks ago, his eyes wide and desperate and fearful.

Eita plucks his hands from his shoulders and steps back. “Ohhhh-kay then. Whatever you say, man.”

Katou shakes his head with a sigh. “Your funeral. Good luck finding Yamamoto. I think he’s in Class 1-B.”

* * *

Eita ends up on a wild goose chase looking for Yamamoto. He’s not in the classroom, but a classmate says he might be with the Kendo Club. He’s not with the Kendo Club, but Mochida says he could be with Gokudera and Sawada hanging out with the UMA Club. They’re not in the UMA Clubroom—what even is an UMA?—but a girl says the group left a little while ago to go to the Student Council room. Finally, _finally_ , he manages to track down Yamamoto, who’s having a conversation in the back of the room with, surprisingly, Kurokawa Hana and Sasagawa Kyoko.

He’s getting a lot of surprises today.

“Yamamoto!” Eita calls, jogging over to greet him. “Kurokawa.” He nods cordially to her, because no one is rude to Kurokawa even when she gives him a disgusted glance, and then he smiles at Kyoko, who looks as cute as ever. “Hey, Kyoko-chan.”

Kyoko smiles brightly at him. “Hello!” Yamamoto snickers for reasons Eita doesn’t understand, but he’s too busy recovering from Kyoko’s smile anyway.

“Who the hell are you?” Kurokawa says bluntly.

“Wh—I’m Eita! Maeda Eita!” he sputters. “We went to middle school together!”

“You can’t expect me to know every monkey we went to school with,” Kurokawa scoffs.

“Oh, that’s why you’re talking to us,” Yamamoto says. “Haha, sorry, I was a little confused!”

“We were in baseball together,” Eita says, a bit desperately. “I moved away in our second year?” He’s not _that_ forgettable, is he? Now that he thinks about it, Kyoko _did_ look a little blank when he said hi.

“This idiot doesn’t know the names of half the people on his _current_ baseball team. Why would he remember you?” Kurokawa gives him a look like he’s not worth her time. Kyoko doesn’t say anything—just hums and goes back to the papers on the desk in front of her.

“That’s not true! I remember Katou!” Yamamoto protests.

“Yeah, because you’re planning the best way to murder him and hide his body,” Kurokawa retorts. Eita starts and stares at Yamamoto. There’s no way, right?

Yamamoto laughs. “Maa maa, I’m just keeping an eye on him. There’s no harm in that.”

“Fucking liar.” She rolls her eyes and looks back at Eita. “So what did you want with this guy?” She jerks her thumb towards Yamamoto.

“Oh, right, I had a question.” He looks at Yamamoto, who gazes back at him with a lazy curiosity. “I said before I moved away from Namimori in second year, so I don’t really know what’s going on lately. What’s your relationship with Dame-Tsuna?”

A Student Council member trips over nothing and scatters a number of papers everywhere. Kyoko hurries to help her and the girl hisses, “Did he just call Sawada _useless_?” Eita glances at the two. He doesn’t recognize the girl. She probably didn’t go to Namimori Middle.

Over the rest of the room, a thick, suffocating tension falls. Everything is suddenly deathly quiet, everyone in the room still. Kurokawa’s face is disturbingly blank and Yamamoto’s lips have turned upwards in a sharp grin. Eita feels pinned in place. He’s never seen Yamamoto so _terrifying_ , and all of a sudden, he understands Katou and Toshimura’s fear.

“Haha, did you really just ask me that?” Yamamoto drawls, head tilted to the side. His hand drapes casually over a long, skinny bag resting against the side of his chair. Eita wonders if whatever’s in there is a bat. “Actually, did you really just use _that_ nickname in front of me? Who even are you?”

“I-I, uh…” Eita gulps. _What the fuck_?

“You know, Maeda-san, Tsuna-kun really doesn’t deserve that nickname.” Kyoko stands, a few papers in her arms and an innocent, pure smile on her face. For some reason, it makes him want to run and hide. “He’s never been useless—it’s just that no one ever took the time to look at his potential.”

“Cardboard cutouts like you don’t have a right to question us,” Yamamoto continues. “But if you apologize right now, I—”

“Takeshi?” a voice rings out. “Kyoko-chan? Hana? What’s going on?”

The thick tension in the air dissipates like it wasn’t even there to begin with. Yamamoto’s grin becomes friendlier, Hana’s shoulders relax, and Kyoko’s eyes brighten. The girl who tripped breathes a sigh of relief, and the other Student Council members hurry to continue what they were doing.

Eita turns and spots Dame-Tsuna and his delinquent friend—Gokudera—making their way to the back, each holding a stack of papers.

“Don’t worry about it, Tsuna!” Yamamoto chirps. It's disturbing now that Eita’s seen him looking every part the predator. “This guy just wanted to ask a question! Apparently he was from Namimori and moved away some time before Reborn came, so he wanted to know what’s happened while he was gone.”

“Oh, okay.” Dame-Tsuna blinks, accepting the clearly fake explanation at face value. He and Gokudera drop the stacks on top of the table. “Well, we should really get going. I think Reborn’s gonna be coming by with the kids later, and I really don’t want him to let them run around loose.” He sighs, running a hand through his hair.

“Sure, let’s go!” Yamamoto grabs his things, slinging the holder over his shoulders, and wraps an arm around both of the other boys. Dame-Tsuna accepts the position with a smile, but Gokudera begins sputtering.

“Oi, don’t touch me so casually, you sword freak!” he exclaims, even though he’s making no move to push him away.

Yamamoto laughs. “Aw, but Hayato, you should be used to this! Haha, you’re so cute!” Gokudera’s face turns red and he starts yelling. They somehow manage to make it out the door as squished together as they are and it closes behind them. No one in the Student Council so much as looks up from what they're doing.

Eita glances hesitantly at the remaining girls. Kyoko has taken to ignoring his presence, but Kurokawa is staring at him, the side of her head leaning on her fist.

“By the way,” she says, “Yamamoto’s relationship with Sawada? Those two and Gokudera are practically dating. We have an ongoing bet about when all three of them will get together, so I’d be careful what you say about Sawada. The two of them are the most protective out of everyone.”

“I’m telling you, Hana-chan, those three won’t happen until next year,” Kyoko says. She doesn’t stop scribbling on her papers.

“There’s no way they’re _that_ dense. Summer vacation at best.”

“I _know_ Tsuna-kun, and he definitely has no idea that he likes them. It’ll take a lot of time before he realizes and even more time before he works up the nerve to tell them, I guarantee.”

“You’ll be eating your words when they finally kiss, Kyoko.”

“No I won’t, because I’ll be collecting my money.”

Just like that, it’s as though Eita isn’t even there. He can’t make heads or tails of what they’re saying. Yamamoto? Dating two guys? There’s no way he’s even _gay_. Can three guys even date each other? How does that work?

“They’re fucking with me, right?” he asks a nearby upperclassmen.

“No,” the guy answers. “Actually, I wonder if I can get in on that bet...” Without even waiting to see his reaction, the guy turns to someone else to ask a question.

Eita blinks rapidly. He must be dreaming.

* * *

Over the next few days, Eita finds himself paying a lot of attention to Dame-Tsuna and his new crew. He can’t help it, really. Dame-Tsuna was always a fun punching bag, and after he moved away, he never thought about him much other than the occasional, “I miss being able to laugh at that loser.” Never once did he think that that kid would ever manage to make friends, unless those friends were as useless as him.

As it turns out, Dame-Tsuna has a _lot_ of friends. Not just Gokudera and Yamamoto and Kurokawa and Kyoko—he’s close enough to Kyoko’s brother to call him “Onii-san”, and Hibari lets him off the hook for rule-breaking every once in a while. It’s not often, and Eita _swears_ that Dame-Tsuna is given less of a beatdown than everyone else even when he is caught. There’s also a pair of fraternal twins who hang around—a pretty girl and her brother who walks like he’s a king and who is always willing to fight _Hibari_ of all people, which just doesn’t compute.

They’re an odd group for sure, and yet they all hover around Dame-Tsuna and each other like they’re the only people who really matter to them. Everyone else is practically invisible, or at least, unimportant.

Once, Eita witnesses a girl from another high school jumping at Dame-Tsuna after school and ranting about how he’s her future husband. Gokudera starts shouting and Yamamoto’s smile becomes strained and Eita is too busy wondering what the hell is wrong this girl. Who would ever consider Dame-Tsuna to be good husband material?

It’s _infuriating_. Dame-Tsuna is _nothing_. He’s always been nothing and there’s no way he could have changed so much in the short time that Eita hasn’t seen him. He’s a loser—a hopeless loser with a hopeless crush on Kyoko, except now he’s a hopeless gay loser, apparently. There’s no way he should have been able to graduate middle school, but here he is, with these supposed _friends_ of his and an overprotective Yamamoto at his side and _this shouldn’t be possible_.

It takes a long time, but Eita eventually manages to get the little freak alone. He doesn’t know where Gokudera or Yamamoto are, and he doesn’t care. As long as they’re not there, that’s perfectly fine. He corners Dame-Tsuna in an isolated area of the school and pins him to the wall. He feels an almost perverse sense of satisfaction as Dame-Tsuna's eyes fill with alarm.

“What the hell is up with you, Dame-Tsuna?” he demands.

“I-I’m sorry?” Dame-Tsuna squeaks. “I-I-I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Who are you? Did I do something?”

“God, stop stuttering. You’re such a loser; how can Yamamoto stand you?” Eita sneers. “How the hell did you convince him to be friends with you? What, did you bribe him?”

“Br-bribe? I didn’t do anything! I’m really not sure what you’re—”

“Yeah, right. You two aren’t in the same league. You make _no sense_ , you know that? You’re just a useless nobody whose dad didn’t even want to be around you! You can’t do anything at all! I'm sure your mom wishes she didn't have to take care of you. Those people around you? There’s no fucking _way_ they’re around you just _because_. They’re all way more than you. You don’t have anything to offer them, so why are they always around?” Dame-Tsuna is a small thing. Eita towers over him and only feels even better at the way he cowers.

“I-I-I-I don’t know! I really have no idea! I’m… I…” His voice grows quieter. He starts hunching in on himself, eyes turning downcast.

This. This is the Dame-Tsuna Eita knows. He doesn’t know who that smiling, laughing boy was, but Dame-Tsuna has always been a coward. It seems he just forgot his place for a little while.

He opens his mouth to continue his diatribe, but a hand grips his shoulder and he’s shoved to the side. “Hey, what the hell?” he snarls, then balks. There’s a tall foreigner standing in front of him, fedora casting a shadow over his eyes. He’s taken a spot in front of Dame-Tsuna like a protector. Everything about him screams _dangerous_. Eita tries to keep his head up as he says, “Who the fuck are you?”

The man stares, then dismisses him like he’s nothing but an annoying bug. He instead looks at Dame-Tsuna. Frustration wells in Eita’s chest. “Dame-Tsuna,” the man says in a deep, somewhat chiding voice. “You’re better than this. You’re better than some  _boy_. You know this.”

“Reborn…” Dame-Tsuna says quietly. With the man’s eyes on him, he starts to straighten his back at attention. “I-I’m sorry. I just…”

The man—Reborn? What kind of name is Reborn?—sighs and smacks Dame-Tsuna over the head. “Idiot student of mine. This kid is nothing to you. Just an insignificant pest of the past and therefore, no one you should consider the opinion of. Certainly he’s not worth getting to your head. And stop apologizing. Your only fault is letting a child’s words get to you.”

“Who the _fuck_ are you calling—”

“Shut up.” The man’s eyes gleam. Eita freezes. He’s not glaring, but he doesn't need to.

“You’re right, Reborn. I’ll do better,” Dame-Tsuna says, bowing his head.

“There’s nothing to get _better_ at. It’s about healing. I called your Guardians, by the way.”

Dame-Tsuna’s head jumps up and this time, he looks a bit panicked. “What? Reborn, that wasn’t necessary!”

“Don’t argue with me, Dame-Tsuna. Let your Guardians help you.”

As if on cue, two voices sound.

“Tsuna!”

“Tenth!”

Gokudera and Yamamoto appear from behind Eita, startling him into stumbling backwards. They practically shove him to the side and don’t even give him a second glance as they rush to Dame-Tsuna. They flutter around him, looking for injuries that Eita didn’t have a chance to put on him yet, while asking question after question. Reborn steps to the side and keeps his gaze on Eita. That look alone keeps him from running.

“Reborn-san, thank you for calling us,” Gokudera says hurriedly, bowing deeply to Reborn as he momentarily pauses in his fussing. Yamamoto is still brushing his hands through Dame-Tsuna’s hair.

“You,” Yamamoto says suddenly, eyes fixing on where Eita is rooted to the ground. He doesn’t pause his movements, but he looks even more terrifying than he did back in the Student Council room. “You’re the reason Reborn called us, aren’t you? _What did you do_?” Beside him, Gokudera straightens up and somehow seems to grow. His fingers reach for something in his back pocket. His glare is just as terrifying as Yamamoto's.

“T-Takeshi, Hayato, please,” Dame-Tsuna stammers. “Don’t do anything. He’s just a civilian.” _A civilian?_ Like he isn’t?

“A civilian who Reborn-san thought was enough of a threat that we had to be called,” Gokudera growls.

“I only called you two to take him home,” Reborn interjects, his hands in his pockets. “I called… _someone else_ to deal with him.” A smirk stretches on his face. Yamamoto and Gokudera look at him for a few seconds, then realization crosses their faces and they nod.

“Let’s go home then, Tsuna,” Yamamoto says gently. “And when we get back, you _have_ to tell us what happened. Okay?”

“Well—”

“ _Okay_?”

Dame-Tsuna sighs. “Okay…” Yamamoto grins, and together with Gokudera, they begin to escort Dame-Tsuna away.

The man stays, keeping Eita where he is with nothing but his gaze alone. Then, seconds later, he glances to the side and steps away. In that second, Hibari appears, eyes searching and vengeful when they set on Eita.

“ _Herbivore_ ,” he hisses, stalking towards him. “For loitering after school hours, bullying another student, crowding, and harassing the _omnivore_ , I will _bite you to death_.”

Reborn tips his fedora in satisfaction.

**Author's Note:**

> Fuck Eita lol.  
> I'm getting weirdly attached to Katou and Ryuu???? I've declared that they're childhood friends and Katou has a major crush on Ryuu but Ryuu is the childhood friend that is so used to his bullshit that it doesn't even register as "oh he has a crush on me." So that's a thing.
> 
> 805927 is a definite thing here so I hope you guys enjoyed those little tidbits! If you're interested in a bit more serious stuff, I'm planning on writing a brief interlude about Tsuna getting together with Gokudera and Yamamoto and also slowly healing from life pre-Reborn, so maybe be on the lookout for that.  
> Thanks for reading everyone! Maybe join me on [tumblr](https://heavenly-dusk.tumblr.com/)? (I talk about writing and fic ideas)


End file.
